[pasbesoin]

They also have, or had, a circa $25 corded drill kit for sale (going by memory of briefly seeing, a year or two ago).

If someone doesn't have a drill and is contemplating purchasing and constructing a substantial piece of IKEA furniture, such as my parent's TV stand -- lots of bits to screw together. Under those circumstances, I suggest maybe they want to buy one of the drill kits.

I expect you can get a better corded drill elsewhere, and buy the relevant bits, for not much more. But, KISS, with regard to the amount of shopping to be done.

P.S. Well, what do you know. US $20, now, and cordless.

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00196101/

[mindslight]

IMHO if you're getting something for infrequent use, avoid batteries as they'll just go bad when sitting around unused.

[pasbesoin]

That's a good point, in general.

In this case, I think there may be a few additional factors.

In the U.S., at least, many may view $20 as a "throwaway" level purchase to improve the assembly effort of the furniture they're purchasing/assembling.

Assembly is frustrating. A power tool and appropriate bits help, but then negotiating a cord takes it back somewhat in a negative direction. Plus, it's probably difficult and expensive to made and sell such a drill with a usefully long power cord. So, the purchaser then also need to negotiate acquiring and using an extension cord. And, you don't want them using the cord they use for that lamp in the corner; the drill's potential draw likely exceeds the rating of the extension cord most users will end up plugging it into.

IKEA has some language on the cordless drill's page specifically describing it being engineered to avoid idle battery drain.

People love cordless. Cordless sells. Many of them have no clue about what you describe, and meanwhile, cordless sells. :-/